Merry Christmas

This is one of the most exciting times of the year for me. It is the season I love the most. To think that a holy God came down from heaven, took the form of a human baby, born in one of the lowliest places anyone can imaging, to live a perfect sinless, life, and die for our sins.

It is a sobering thought as well. What can we do to please our Lord and Savior? We can try to live a righteous life, help others, put others first, do good deeds. But more than anything HE wants us to live for HIM, give HIM our lives and tell others about the wonder of Salvation HE gave us - a free gift!

Even though my family is apart again this Christmas, I dwell in the safety of HIS love and protection. And I know my children are protected by HIM as well. What a peaceful thought.

 We even had a few snow flurries in the morning!

 Baking Christmas cookies. We made 8 diff. kinds of German cookies. Yum

 Decorating the Christmas tree

 The final touch: The Angel!

Happy Birthday, JESUS!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

After the last election I had to come to terms with my personal feelings. I felt discouraged, mad, scared, upset with the American people who voted for the evil. Then I realized that God is still in control, and that America deserves what is coming. We allowed the evil, abortions (murder), new definitions of marriage. Is that crazy or what? We replaced God's law with men's law. Looking back at history, did that not all happen before? Take a look at Germany and Adolf Hitler, or what about Russia and Stalin? Does that ring a bell?
Anyhow, after all these emotions, I came to the conclusion that God has been good, is good and still loves His people. We need to focus on Him and reach the lost world.
So we decided to have a wonderful Thanksgiving, with Christian friends, thanking Him for His love and mercy. Pastor was so gracious to allow us and use the fellowship hall of the church. We decorated the day before, and what a great day it was!!!!! Then we had the Pena's over for the weekend, friends from Knob Noster, MO.
On Friday Precilla, Leeanna and I went Black Friday shopping. Actually we started around 8:30PM the night before. Found a few good deals. Going home around 10 AM the next morning, we were tired.
I forgot to mention that Leeanna turned 15 on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I am so blessed to have 3 wonderful children. Lo, Children are an inheritance of the Lord....

 In the morning, everyone is still a little bit tired. Leeanna's 15th birthday!

A trip to Mansfield, MO, the late home of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder.

The news I forgot to mention are: I got a new bird, Opus, from a bird rescue in Springfield. He has plucked and has problems growing new feathers. But he is a sweet bird. And we are - again - looking for a house. This time to buy our own, hopefully with acreage, so that we can have our own garden. Lots to learn for me. Carie, where are you? LOL.

Life in Ash Grove, MO

We have finally moved to another house, 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. This is not our own, though, but we love it. The only downside is that the train tracks are running through our backyard. I really mean it. The boys enjoy watching the trains go by, I am not so much. Especially at night...
The church is doing well. We had some visitors, one woman got saved through a bible study with Pastor and Jill, his wife. Praise God!
We also went to Berean Baptist Church in Springfield for a ladies' retreat. It was amazing, and it was a big blessing. Lots of things I need to change toward becoming a submissive wife. Not always easy, but God didn't say it was.
I am teaching the 5 to 8 year olds in Sunday School. Jason is preaching in the nursing home here in town every other week. We love to be more involved and enjoy every minute of it.
Jason has not found a job yet, but we trust in the Lord to help him find one in time. The kids enjoy it here, even though we miss Sina and her family a lot. We are trying to plan a trip to Colorado this fall. Hopefully it will work out.
There is not much to add, so have a blessed week everyone.

Ash Grove, Missouri

Now we are back in Missouri. Ash Grove is a small town of 1,472 people + us now, I guess. LOL. We enjoy living in a small town again. Our church home is Bible Baptist of Ash Grove. Love it! Right now we are living in a small trailor house, but we will be moving into a 5 bedroom house this coming Monday, also in Ash Grove. I am extremely excited!!!! Even though we will miss our neighbors next door. Tommy and Timothy have become friends with Nick, his brother and little sister. They play together every day. The parents were having problems. After getting to know them a little bit, and Nick going with us to church, the parents decided they all would go one Sunday. And they did come. Loved it, and came back the following Sunday. We are praying for their salvation, and that they will pull through their difficulties. It is wonderful to see how Christ takes sinners and turns them into people that are excited about going to heaven. Praise God for Salvation and our blessed Hope. Thank you Jesus!

Jason is doing online school for his bachelors degree. Financially we are ok due to the retirement he gets from the Army. We won't be able to purchase a house though, unless he starts working. Which is ok, renting allows us to meet people and help them in different circumstances. Like my husband helping people to cut up trees and branches that fell in their yards after the last storm.

I do ask for prayers for the upcoming election. We need to get Obama out, otherwise this country will go down. I am not choking. Our future here in America will change forever with him being President a second term. Thank the Lord, He is still in control.

Oh, I almost forgot: The beginning of July we went to family camp again. Wonderful preaching, great fellowship and as always, very encouraging! And lots of fun!!!
Well, I hope everyone will have a great week.

 My 3 men love to fish. Even Timothy got the hang of it. And they caught some little fish!

 Canoeing was another blast on Lake Pomme de Terre.

 Waiting for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I don't remember. Hanging out with good friends!

 My husband made 2nd place in archery. So proud of him! The first place was given to a first time archery trier. His arrow hit the ground, bounced up and hit the center. And he was proud of it. LOL.

Leeanna and Libby got 2nd place in fussball (table).

 Leeanna, Caroline, Libby, Abby and Tommy- always smiling! The girls look tired. Wonder why?!

 The boys ate outside....

...the girls on the other hand, enjoyed AC while eating.

Not much longer

Only one and a half month left before we leave for Missouri, and before my husband will leave his uniforms behind. Wow, that will be quite a change for us.
As of right now, we know that we can not buy a house, because the bank won't loan us the money until Jason has a job. Which means we have to rent one. We found a house, 5 bedrooms, 150 years old, which is in the process of being remodeled. This is great, but means we can not move into it till August. OK, we will have to stay in a trailor for 3-4 weeks. But God knows. After rejecting the thought of renting - again - HE spoke to my heart. I know that HE is in control, and HIS plans seem to be different than mine. I want to be in the center of HIS will, which makes things a lot easier for me.
Sina and her kids are here with us for 2-3 weeks. I know we will miss them terribly. But GOD knows the future...
On the 30. of June we have the retirement ceremony for Jason, which will be quite an event. I plan to invite some people from church and to have a little reception with cake and drinks afterwards. What he does not know, I ordered a present for him. Don't tell him, it is a German coffee maker called Jura, it grinds, brews and self-cleans, and it makes coffee, cappuchino, latte and espresso. Hmmmm, I will enjoy it too.  ;)
We also would like to enjoy as much of the Rocky Mountains as possible before we leave. Tomorrow we are going by train up to Pikes Peak. I will take pictures and post them here (unless I forget). Jason wants to take us further west into the mountains. Yeah.
OK, enough for now. Hope to see a few comments. By the way, Carie, I still like chocolate. Too much, as a matter of fact. Grr!

Our last Easter celebration in Colorado

Easter Sunday, what a wonderful day. Not just a regular Sunday, but a reminder of our glorious hope! Jesus died for our sins and rose again! Praise God for our SAVIOR! We had a good Sunday morning, the church was packed! Great message, wonderful music.

We went on door knocking yesterday with about 80 other friends from church! It feels good being out and about doing something for the Lord.

We are still looking forward to Missouri, and we hope we will be a blessing to our new church and friends there. God is good, and He knows about our future. As long as we are in His perfect will we will be doing fine.

Other than that we don't have anything new. As I am following Kelly's blog I am more and more aware that I need to get more organized and we are in need to get read of a lot of things. Which means another garage sale. Yeah. I just have to invite her to help me. By the way, if you read this please pray that God will show us a house to buy when we visit Missouri in about 2 weeks.

I am also following Carrie's blog, which shows me how much fun it can be to do hands-on with the kids. Wished I could be more like her. Well, thanks Carrie and Kelly for the ideas and examples you are setting.

Hope everyone has a Happy, Blessed Easter! We have a risen Savior!

Visiting Loveland

The kids and I took Oma back to the Airport on Thursday. She went back to Germany. Sina and her kids came there too to say Good-Bye. It was sad, but the exciting thing was that we went to visit my niece Sina and her family afterwards.

So, now we are in Loveland until tomorrow, Monday. Then we will drive back home. I love spending time with Sina. Especially now knowing that we are leaving Colorado soon. Which means I won't see her for a long time. But the Lord knows what is best for all of us. It is trusting in Him that makes things easier.

Other than that I am looking forward to April, when we go to Springfield to look for a house with land. God willing we will find one, get the contract started and have a place to live before we move there. What comes next? Before the move we will have to get read of things, lots of things. Which means, another garage sale. Not looking forward to that.

Anyhow, hope you all have a great week!

Getting closer day by day

We are getting closer to retirement. As I am reading Kelly's blog, how she is organizing her life and everything else, I feel like I need to do the same. Do I do it now? Do I wait till arriving in Missouri? I think I will wait. Kelly can give me good advice. LOL, Hint for Kelly!

As far as our health goes: We are juicing every day, taking vitamins, staying away from milk, instead drinking almond milk. After talking to a friend of mine, I decided we need to eat more raw food. It will take me a little while, but hopefully I can change to raw diet, without chasing my family out of the house.

OK, got to run. Hope everyone who reads this has a blessed day!

Another try

Believe it or not, I can skate too! It was a lot of fun. By the way, the young lady beside me is Sina, niece and best friend!
Ice-cream in Loveland, CO. Yummy!
Ice-scating, also in Loveland. Leeanna, Vivian, Daniel, Sina.
Our crazy crew. Got to love em!
It has been a while since I updated my blog. Last time I wrote a long one, attached a few pics, hit the wrong button... gone, everything. I got upset, and quit.

So, here we go again. I have been on another health trip, found out that milk is not healthy, did some research and came to the conclusion: Let's stick with Almond milk, and if possible get raw milk. Not very easy done. Leeanna and Timothy love the Almond milk, Tommy hates it. Here in Colorado it is not possible, neither allowed to sell raw milk, unless you own a cow. We don't! Hmmm.

Next thing is looking into the near future. Jason's retirement date is Aug. 31, 2012. We can leave Colorado and Post around the 20. of June. It still looks like God is calling us back to Missouri, but not to Knob Noster, where we lived before. This time it will be Springfield. We went there to visit last year in July. Beautiful countryside. Of course we will have a good church, Mitch O'Neill is the Pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Ash Grove. We came to love him and his family, which makes the leaving here a lot easier. Let's not forget: My niece Sina and her family live close by. We had wonderful times and visits together, and it hurts to think that this will end soon, but we depend on God's divine plan. It will be great!

We are looking into buying a house and land, hopefully at least 10 acres. It will be a lot cheaper in MO than CO. Then I want to plant my own garden, since it becomes harder and more expensive to buy organic food. But... I still need to learn a lot about gardening. Wished my friend Carie and her green thumb would be here. Of course we want chickens, and maybe, down the road a horse or two. Did I mention that I owned horses before? No? Well, I did. And still miss my little ranch.

Jason is reading a lot about business building. He has plans to do some college. Again, we trust God has a plan already laid out for us. It is a little bit sad to leave the military life, but also extremely exciting, to think we will settle down.

My mom is still here to visit. She will be leaving on the 15. of March. I pray that she will get back into her routine, being alone.

I think this is all for now. I will try to attach a few pics. Hope you have not given up on me and still read my blog. Love ya.